A basic capacitor is formed by a matched pair of plates, placed in proximity, with a dielectric interposed between the pair of plates. Practical capacitors employ very thin plates with substantial surface areas, and dispose the pair of plates so that their surface areas are proximate and parallel, oppositely facing each other, separated only by a thin dielectric. The volume of space between this pair of plates, including the intervening dielectric and the plates themselves, may be said to represent the intraplate internal volume of the capacitor plate array.
Any physically real single plate has two surfaces, top and bottom. But, by convention, only one of these twin surfaces counts toward the plate surface area, and capacitance is computed on the basis of this plate surface area. We will follow this convention.
Prior art capacitors have shared a limitation in common: none have employed any substantial plate surface area that is extraneous--extraneous by virtue of being located outside the intraplate internal volume of the capacitor plate array, or by virtue of not contributing to the capacitance of the capacitor, or by virtue of being left over as a remainder after all conventional plate surface areas have been mutually paired off.
It has now been experimentally determined and demonstrated that improved capacitor performance can be realized by adding further plate surface area to a prior art capacitor--further plate surface area that is extraneous.